Saturday, August 13, 2016

Nisekoi - Why It's Not Perfect

Written by Shiggins

It's time for another edition of WINP and this one goes to the recently finished romcom manga Nisekoi. For those who don't know, the WINP article is when I take a look back on a series and say what were the biggest flaws of a series that I enjoyed greatly, and you all call me an idiot for daring to speak against it. So I'm going to talk about Nisekoi, and you're going to call me a jackass. Ready? Let's go.

Spoiler Alert: There are spoilers.

....Onodera, what are you doing with your hands?

Because it's Filleeeer... Filler Night!
The first thing you need to know about Nisekoi is the canon filler. Like every series out there, you will get plenty of chapters/episodes that choose to focus on fun randomness, rather than the main plot itself. In all honesty, this filler of Nisekoi is some of the best out there and it's all canon too so it's not like you have a lot of reasons to skip it.

The problem is though that the filler is huge. It's not as obnoxious as Naruto Shippuden, but it can be a trial to go from serious development of a character, to suddenly taking a break so we can read a funny but unnecessary group of filler chapters. When I look back at things that I never got to see, I realise it's mostly because we had to deal with stuff like this.

Anyone kinda wish it was the front, not the back?

Marika Had a Cough

Nisekoi loves to troll, and in all honesty, that's fine. We don't want to know all the answers right away, nor should we until the right moment, but Nisekoi went too far. Marika Tachibana, easily one of the funniest characters of the series, went through difficulty after difficulty over her illness, leading us to believe it was something horrible.

Ooooh I need a middle finger for this page.

Now, we had a feeling Marika wouldn't die in the series since it's a full-blown comedy, but when we were told Marika was never in any real danger, we were pissed. Inquisitor admits to nearly quitting the series based on this alone. We saw her collapse, take tons of pills, choke on water, sweat, suffer... and the pay-off was "I'm fine. Just gonna leave the series for a while"? That's just nasty. Either make it something huge and climatic, or tell us right away what the problem is. Don't try to have it both ways.

When the previously mentioned filler came along, it was almost always Tsugumi who was the star. And by god, they were hilarious. From Tsugumi using knockout perfume, to Tsugumi using a lie detector, to Tsugumi getting a love letter... It's all great. Tsugumi is one of the best characters but she was so often sidelined for Chitoge that I know so many fans forget about her, and I blame the anime! I'd rather watch Tsugumi go through the struggle of how to respond to her first ever love letter than watch Chitoge hit Raku yet again. These are interesting, funny episodes that developed her character, and she's too good a character to be ignored. I honestly urge you to read her chapters if you've not done so already.

Did They Get Hit on the Head by a Coconut?

We all forget things as we grow older, and that's just a fact of life. We do our best to grab onto the things most important to us, but sometimes they just slip through the cracks... And yet, in Nisekoi, everyone forgot this entire freaking summer and that makes no sense.

I choose to believe the coconut theory. It's far more likely than "we all just forgot whoops".

Since chapter 1, Raku has been thinking about that day where he made the promise to the girl and he got the locket, so we know that's his main focus within the series. Now, you and I have both forgotten a summer every now and again, but if you literally have something you keep a hold of that is a sign of your devotion to that summer, it's going to be difficult to forget it. And yet, that's exactly what Raku, Chitoge, both Onodera sisters and Tsugumi did. They forgot everything! There was no head injury, or amnesia machine, or drug test. They just forgot. With the series not even giving a good excuse, only Marika and Yue remembered that summer and quite frankly, that's kinda dumb.

The Tsundere Always Wins

I hate Tsunderes! There, I said it! Hit me, beat me, fight me! I don't care anymore! Tsunderes suck! Except for Rin from Fate Stay Night, tsunderes are pains and I don't understand why they get to remain the way they do. Taiga from Toradora? She can go to hell. Kirino, the child poster for incest? Yeah, she can piss off. Mikoto from Certain Magical Index? ....Actually, she's okay.

Anime have an odd way of creating cliche love stories.

Alright, so I hate the majority of tsunderes. The ones that hit the main character for breathing or speaking their mind, or just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. And the thing I hate most about them is that they're the "right choice". Every single time in every single manga, the tsundere is the girl you should be with because she has her moments when she doesn't hit the main character and that makes her endearing apparently. Let's sum it up this way: Would you rather be with the girl who sometimes hits you for doing nothing wrong, or be with the girl who never hits you for doing nothing wrong? Just... aaargh.

Why Aren't the Chitoge Fans Bragging?

When the Chitoge fans "won", I was expecting a massive party and laughter towards we non-Chitoge fans. Onodera, Tsugumi and Marika didn't win (neither did Yue but who counts Yue anyway?) and so it was time for rage, backlash and tons of troll comments about how everyone can suck it etc etc... but that didn't happen.

How?! How can you not adore this angel?!!

Okay, there were some twats out there but nowhere near the level we expected. I prepared for a nuke, but all I got was one grenade. Nobody was bragging or screaming. There's no huge amount of idiots trying to make a petition to ban the series (like some failures did with Naruto *cough cough*) and as an Onodera fan, I don't feel mocked. Don't you people care enough about me to laugh at me?!

While your experiences may be different, I searched to find out why this dull response existed and the result I got was fairly obvious actually. And that leads into the next item on this list...

Lack of Climax

Yes, it's the age-old anticlimax that sullies the good name of almost every series out there. The entire "climax arc" of the series didn't really impress anyone. None of us were tense or scared or whatnot because we knew the ending a mile away. In fact, we even predicted the order it would happen in. Raku would run around for a bit, then he'd run into Onodera, they'd confess how they felt, then he'd reject her, then she'd let him leave to find Chitoge, he'd find Chitoge, they'd confess to each other and for some reason, Marika shows up during all this.

Me too, guys... Me too.

The only time I laughed during this arc was with Tsugumi, and that's not a good thing in a series that is so dependent on comedy. It's even sadder when I realised the reason Tsugumi made me laugh was because I predicted it completely! Even down to the ripping open of the shirt to expose her bra as she screamed her gender.

The lack of twist removed the tension and left us just reading the chapters, instead of experiencing them. It's a shame too because none of the readers got a thrill. Chitoge fans didn't brag (except for the truly obnoxious ones), Onodera fans didn't cry because we already knew the outcome and so our pain was dealt with already, and the Marika fans... well, did they really have any faith to begin with?If you want to know how I felt about the last chapter of the series, click this linkNisekoi Final Chapter ReviewAny I missed? Any other series you feel deserves a WINP article? Let me know in the comments below!

Shiggins:[Admin].

Born under the stars of the Dark Gods, Shiggins owns the power of the Great Eye and is utterly magnificent in his omniscience. If you dare to discover more about someone as great as him, then go ahead. And to all my friends and family members, YOU are wrong and I should be disappointed! Not the other way round!,.You can find out about him or ask him stuff on ask.fm/shigginsishere or go to his tumblr page http://otakugajeel.tumblr.com/